


Partners

by tellmesomethingnew



Category: Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, Gen, Gun Violence, Mildly Dubious Consent, My First Work in This Fandom, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Nuclear War, Romance, Strangers to Lovers, Survival Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 02:31:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5726464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tellmesomethingnew/pseuds/tellmesomethingnew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The year is 2285 and Satine is used to being on her own. Losing track of how many years since her Vault escape, she's gotten a handle on surviving out on the Wasteland on her own, until one evening, she comes across a mysterious man. Fresh from his Vault and clouded with a mysterious pass, William is one man Satine had never come across before. After one quick guilt trip, Satine agrees to take him along with her on her travels and teaches him how to survive, but she didn't even know it'd be possible for her to fall in love again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners

**Author's Note:**

> So as said in the tags, this is my first work for this fandom. I've been playing the Fallout games for only less than a year by now so I can't promise I'll word things correctly and so forth. Please be kind and enjoy.

The last Raider fell to the dirt with a thud, creating a small cloud of dust that swept up to Satine and made her cough. She had been thought to be used to the dust of the Wasteland by now, but still, it irritated her throat.

After reloading her laser rifle, she placed it back in the gunslinger across her back, looking over at the sunset. She would need to make camp soon, or at least find shelter for the long night ahead of her.

Her stomach growled and her parched throat caused her to pull out her canteen of purified water, emptying the last bits of it down her throat. She had backup dirty water, but it was only a last resort. She knew how to bare the tease of only one gulp of the good water.

Looking around, she struggled to identify where exactly she was. Had she really been roaming that long without paying mind to her surroundings?

She reached her arm up and looked down at her Pip-Boy, it's glowing blue light softly lighting up her pale face. Her hazel eyes scanned over the list of her inventory she had recently taken, keeping in check what she planned to sell for bottlecaps the next time she came across a trader.

On one side of her stood a broken highway railing overlooking a town she had yet to scavenge through and on the other side of her were rocky hills.

And for just one moment, she felt lonely.

She sighed, looking around her once more to plan where she'd stop and camp. She had just started to walk again, her heavy military boots hitting the broken up pavement with soft thuds accompanied by the faint sound of her backpack hitting her lower back, when a sound came to her ears and made her freeze.

_It couldn't be._

A faint, deep, echoey beeping coming from the hills that could only ever be apart of one single thing: a Vault entrance.

She hadn't come across a Vault in months, and the ones she had come across before had all been destroyed, abandoned, or irradiated. If a Vault door was opening or closing, it could be so many things.

Still, curious and already up for another fight, she took her laser rifle back out, and began following the Vault's noise.

She crouched slightly, making sure to be hidden behind the rocks as she traveled along the road until she found a dirt path leading up into the hills.

Halfway up the path, she paused as she stared at the dirt, focusing on what it was she was exactly hearing. Only a little bit of adrenaline was pumping through her as she was a very curious person, which had proven to be her undoing.

Footsteps. One person. They were klutzy and desperate. And there was a Radscorpion. And then there was a thud, followed by a cry from a man.

“Help! Please!”

Satine took a sharp turn and instantly aimed her rifle, one energy blast straight into the head of the Radscorpion and turning it into a pile of ash before its stinger could lunge at the fallen man.

She reloaded in a blink of an eye out of muscle memory before she aimed the rifle at the man.

He instantly thew his hands up in the air to surrender, his eyes wide with horror. “Please don't shoot!” he cried, his voice shaky and nervous.

Satine hesitated, surveying the man. The only weapon on him was a rock and from the looks of it, he was probably ready to lunge it at the Radscorpion had she not come to the rescue. Realizing he was of no threat, she lowered her weapon and pulled up her goggles so her eyes could clearly see the man.

“Who the hell are you?” she asked. Her voice was rough and guarded. She wanted him to know that she was certainly wasn't someone to cross.

“William! Please. I just came out of the Vault, I don't even know where I am!”

Satine had lived on the Wasteland and had run into enough people to know when a person was lying. In time, it had become a sixth sense to her. And judging from the man's blue Vault suit and the lack of weapons, she had no choice but to believe him.

She walked over to him and offered out a hand. He hesitated before he took it and she yanked him up onto his feet.

Once he was standing up, Satine retracted her hand and messed with her rifle a bit before she put it back in its sling and her eyes looked back at him.

He had bright blue eyes, the pale Vault skin she once had, long dark eyelashes, and wavy raven hair cut short. Judging by the way his suit fit him, he wasn't a weakling. Clearly he had done some heavy work down in his Vault, so she decided he had a better chance at living. He stood about half a foot taller than her and judging by the faint wrinkles on his skin, he couldn't be much older than her.

She turned to the path she had just come up, pointing to the right of it – the direction she had come from.

“There's a small outpost that way if you follow the road. Friendly folks there that could surely help you or put you to work so you can get hold of some supplies. I just came from there so the road should be cleared and safe for the time being.

She put her goggles back on and pulled out a 10mm pistol she had planned on selling for some extra bottlecaps, fully loaded. It was a common weapon used in the Wasteland, so he was bound to find more ammo for it soon enough should he run out.

Shoving it into his arms as he nervously took it, she checked to see if she had any spare ammo to offer up, but didn't find anything. The entire time he was staring at her with this weird blank expression.

“I hope you know how to use it. Good luck,” she suddenly grumbled as she turned her back to him and began walking away.

Suddenly, she felt a jerk on her coat sleeve. She paused and looked around at _William_ who had followed her.

“Wait, please! You can't just leave me here to die.”

“You won't die,” she assured him, pointing to the pistol. “You've got a gun.”

She turned back around to leave him again when he grabbed her coat sleeve once more.

“I don't even know how to use a gun!”

Her eyes closed and she took a moment before she let out a deep and heavy sigh. _You were him once. Remember? You were so scared and alone…_ She wouldn't wish that on anyone. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, instantly tasting the bitterness of her sweat. She was due for a bath soon, but regardless...

“Look, I'll let you camp with me tonight. But in the morning, you're on your own.”

She looked at him one more time through her goggles and she saw relief in his face.

“Thank you so much,” he sighed heavily.

She began walking again. “Keep up with me, Vault Boy. We don't have much time to make camp before the sun goes down.”

She didn't care if he followed her not. The offer was there and she wasn't slowing down for anything. Somehow, she felt relieved for him when she stepped out onto the broken road and heard his footsteps close behind.

Most people she had spent some time with talked her ear off about their life story.

William was a quiet man, she found as she headed to the left of the dirt path, following the road until she came across simple woods good enough to camp out in.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she wasn't going to bombard him like that. The last thing she wanted to appear to be was caring.

Out here on the Wasteland, caring was weakness.


End file.
